FIFA World Cup Sunday, June 22, 2014

2014 FIFA World Cup Day 11

Belgium vs. Russia (1-0)

A late goal by Divock Origi ensured that Belgium books a place into the second round of the game. This is also the second time when Belgium was helped by a substitution. Russia on the other hand had shown a disciplined defense and for Belgium it took most of the match to be able to break their strong defense. Origi had replaced Romelu Lukaku in the 88th minute. Being just 19 years old, he is the youngest player from the side and now becomes the youngest World Cup scorer for the country. Russia had been getting many chances but somehow weren’t able to capitalize upon them.

It was a bright afternoon in Rio as the match started. While Belgians were the favorites into the match, it was the Russians who showed more discipline and even applied pressure on the celebrated Belgian lineup. Till halftime, Belgians were able to restrict the scoreboard to 0-0 as both the Russian defense and attack was looking ominous. It took another half of the match for the Belgians to work out the Russian defense spearheaded by Vasily Berezutskiy and Sergey Ignashevich. It was in the 88th minute that Belgium was finally able to earn a score, thanks to the substitute Divock Origi. The match ended with 1-0 on the scoreboard and the Russians were quite disappointed by the last minute setback.

Russia Vs Belgium Highlights

Korea Republic vs. Algeria (2-4)

Another exciting match of the 014 FIFA World cup, Algeria dominated the Estadio Beira-Rio stadium right from the first minute. With the 12 first half minute, the Algerians had struck three times already and were able to keep their pace to get a comfortable 4-2 win against Korea Republic.

The score board for Algeria was opened up by Ismail Slimani in the 26th minute with a wonderful offside-ish shot past Feghouli. A minute later he was back with another stunner piercing the Korean defense to give Algerians a healthy lead. Algeria had been waiting for this match for quite long and the Koreans were falling short of muscles in front of the likes of Slimani. In the 36th minute, Mandi wins another game changing corner for Algeria. After two minutes of dribble around the Korean post, Djabou helped by Slimani slots the ball from 10 yards and into the net. At this time, the Algerians are already running riot! By half time, the Koreans were understandably feeling guilty for playing too much on the defensive side. Coming into the second half, the Koreans had a different approach and right in the 49th minute, they were able to turns a free kick into a goal. This time, Korea’s Son Heung-min fires past M’Bohli’s legs to start the score for his team. The Koreans were looking to attack now but in the 62nd minute, the Algerians restore their 3 goal lead with the help of a stunner from Brahimi. Korean immediately makes some changes to its lineup as Lee Leun-ho replaces Lee Chung-yong. In the 72nd minute, Ja-Cheol Koo manages to take the pass from Lee Keun-ho and guides it into the unguarded net. Korea is now two goals short of an equalizer. In the 88th minute, it looked like the Koreans had another close shot but finally the score stand at 4-2 in favor of the Algerians. This also brings Algeria’s first win after the 1982 tournament!

Algeria Vs South Korea Highlights

United States vs. Portugal (2-2)

United States had its advancement to the next lag of the tournament within close grasp but slips it away just short of the final whistles in yesterday’s match against Portugal at Arena Amazonia, Manaus. The last minute goal by Portugal also keeps its hopes alive. Now that USA is short of a point, its future in the tournament would be decided on Thursday in the match against Germany. USA will have to score a draw or better to be able to proceed forward.

Into the match, United States kicks off the ball and was looking all determined to take back the trophy with them. However, right in the 5th minute, Portugal showed they really weren’t an easy team to attack. Nani drives the ball easily into the USA net creating the lead for Portugal. The early setback just required that the Americans ramp up their game and attack the Portuguese instead of assuming a defensive strategy. The tackling and passes went on for long but past the half time, there was nothing that really came to close to either post. It was in the 64th minute that the USA were able to score an equalizer with Jermaine Jones taking the matter into his own hands and ably steps across Nani to find the net. United States was starting to look good after the equalizer and in the 81st minute, they took the lead with an impressive off-the-chest goal by Captain Clint Dempsey. Now all that the USA required to do is keep the lead for the next 10 minutes. However, the Portuguese weren’t looking to give up and 14 minutes later to the USA goal, Varela creates a stunning header to equalize the scoreboard. Finally it was a well earned draw for Portugal. As for the United States, it may well seem to be a loss as they were on the verge of taking the trophy home.